


myriagon

by nayvee



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Multi, duckling!dream angst yessir, exile arc combined with season 2 finale, papa puffy is sad, wrote this on tumblr and ended up liking it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28961523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nayvee/pseuds/nayvee
Summary: myriagon (n.) - a shape with 10,000 sidesThe day Puffy logged onto the SMP for the first time, she was prepared to meet the tyrannical Dream—a man who could best anyone in combat, who blew up a nation for daring to defy him. What she got was a boy with messy hair who barely looked twenty. And he followed her. Not in the menacing way one would expect from a man of his reputation, but like a fascinated child watching an interesting stranger. Like a little duckling.
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream, Cara | CaptainPuffy & Niki | Nihachu, Cara | CaptainPuffy & TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 184





	myriagon

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: blood, cursing, implications of niki/puffy’s canon relationship

The day Puffy logged onto the SMP for the first time, she was prepared to meet the tyrannical Dream—a man who could best anyone in combat, who blew up a nation for daring to defy him. What she got was a boy with messy hair who barely looked twenty. And he followed her. Not in the menacing way one would expect from a man of his reputation, but like a fascinated child watching an interesting stranger. Like a little duckling.

It wasn’t long after that she started hearing stories about hidden TNT and demands for white flags. Even then, she couldn’t bring herself to connect them with her duckling. There had to be a reason, right? 

When she heard that maniacal laugh as L’manberg was reduced to a crater, she was still hesitant to believe it. That her duckling wasn’t a sweet misunderstood boy, just a man with a god complex and taste for chaos. In the back of her mind she knew no backstory was tragic enough to justify what he’d done, but she still hoped.

She hoped until she was watching from a distance as her duckling forced a boy to doom his best friend into loneliness. Then, she followed and watched from the trees as Dream forced Tommy to throw his items away. Tommy, forever prideful, refused the one thing Dream offered him: “I don’t want your pity obsidian.” 

In that moment she realized Tommy was the misunderstood boy in this story. Her duckling wasn’t innocent, not even close, and it hurt. This boy—no, man—that she’d felt so protective of since her very first day had hurt people, and she’d let him. Let herself believe that there was a reason. 

Then her duckling left, and she didn’t follow him back. She stood in the trees, conflicted, watching as Technoblade came and went, showing all the sympathy of a violent anarchist. Ghostbur, in his sweet naivety, wasn’t much better. 

When the ghost was gone, she emerged from the trees. Tommy sat alone beside a silent jukebox, overlooking the cove at the north of his campsite with unreadable eyes. Before she could even say anything, he spoke, still facing the water. “All due respect, Captain,” his voice lilted sarcastically “I don’t want your pity, either.” 

It stung, but she knew she deserved it. “Tommy, look-”

He whipped his head around, and Puffy could finally see his expression. Anger, but a hopeless kind. The anger that came from being mistreated again and again, so much that you grew tired of being angry all the time. “Aren’t you Dream’s mum or something? Why are you here?”

That hurt even more. Call it a motherly curse, but Puffy always found kids to protect. In this world it happened to be the villain. “I cared about Dream.” Care, she thought. Not past tense yet. “But he’s hurt people in ways I can’t justify, and I’m sorry.” 

“Will you just go away?” Tommy stood up suddenly, eyes conveying what his mouth wouldn’t let him: he was going to cry, and he didn’t want anyone there to see him break. “I don’t want your pity,” he said again.

“For fuck’s sake, Tommy, you’re a sixteen-year-old who’s been kicked out of a country he helped make by his best friend. You’re living with a ghost in a tent and sitting by an empty jukebox. Will you let people feel bad for you?” 

He scoffed. “Doesn’t matter if they do. Dream’s the one with all the power. Unless you can convince your duckling to give a shit about anyone but himself, you can’t help me.” Her expression must’ve conveyed the shock, because the boy laughed bitterly. “Oh, yeah. The Captain and her shadow. Eret told me all about your wholesome little first day.”

Now she was going to cry. She blinked hard, hands clenched around the hilt of her sword in an attempt to stop them shaking. “You don’t need to believe me, but why else would I be here? I’m sorry, Tommy. I took the wrong side for a bit, and I’m trying to make it right.” She knew he wouldn’t believe her. This was a boy who had been manipulated by every adult in his life, he had no reason to. 

“I don’t want you here!” He lashed forward with his wooden sword, but Puffy blocked with her netherite counterpart and simply sliced it in half, then re-sheathed hers. 

“I’ll go.” She choked out. “But I promise you I’m done defending him.”

And she left, dropping a bag of potatoes in the corner of the tent.

•••

Weeks later, when Punz came to her, she knew she had to keep her promise. So she geared up, donning her netherite gear and the sword she’d faced Tommy with, now to be turned against Dream. 

Coming through the portal was surreal. Tommy and Tubbo were armorless, arms wrapped around each other in a goodbye as Dream stood a few meters away, decked out in his Nightmare armor with a power-drunk grin on his face. Puffy didn’t even register what Punz said as she watched her duckling’s face shatter. 

The boys ran behind Punz, Dream attempting to follow only for Sapnap to ram the butt of his sword into his head and send him stumbling back. He went from a maniacal killer to a scared boy in a matter of seconds, and her heart ached for it.

She was stoic as Tommy forced him to throw all his things away in a satisfying parallel to his exile, and then it really hit her. This version of Dream—silent, armorless—was the boy she cared about.

She knew what was coming, but that didn’t make it any less painful when Tommy started attacking him. If anyone noticed the tears running down her face as she fixed her gaze on a stone near Niki, they didn’t say anything. A hand closed around hers, and she looked over to find Sapnap, eyes shining with his own pain. And so they stood, the only two people in the room who cared, as her duckling was beaten half to death.

She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t watch him die. She was seconds away from turning and going back through the portal when Tommy suddenly froze. “What did you say?”

Dream coughed, spitting blood onto the floor. “I can bring people back to life.” 

Though she knew it was wrong, she nearly sighed in relief. They wouldn’t kill him. She wouldn’t have to watch her duckling die. Sapnap’s face conveyed the same feeling: a guilt-ridden relief. She squeezed his hand once reassuringly, then let go.

Sam brought up the prison and Sapnap voiced his agreement. Moments later, Dream was escorted out of the vault by the pair, and Puffy felt a stone in her chest crumble when he was finally out of sight. She would visit him, eventually, but right now all she wanted was to go home. 

She cast a look in Niki’s direction, hoping against hope that she would come with and they could talk, maybe have another picnic like they had the day this all started. But the girl that looked back wasn’t her Niki; it was a stone-faced vengeful warrior.

Her walk toward the portal was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. She turned and faced a rare sight: an apologetic Tommy. “Captain- no, Puffy,” he sighed. “Fuck, I’m awful at this. I’m sorry, okay. Thank you for being here.”

A sad smile snuck onto her face as she nodded. “It’s okay.” She wanted to say more, but couldn’t, voice caught in her throat.

Tommy understood. “You can go. And, uh, thanks for the potatoes.” 

She exhaled through her nose, a soft laugh. “You’re welcome.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! kudos/comments are appreciated :)
> 
> send one-shot prompts to my tumblr if you want: @veenottaken


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